SEO - Backlinks Explained

If you're new to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you're probably wondering what backlinks are. It is important to know what they are and how crucial they can be if you want your site to rank well in the search engines.

Backlinks are hyperlinks located on other sites that link back to your site. They are also known as inbound links, as opposed to outbound links, which are hyperlinks located on your site that link to other sites.



If you want your site to rank well in the search engines, it is important to get backlinks linking to your site. Most search engines (including Google, Yahoo! and Bing) take backlinks into account when indexing and rankings pages.

Google will not only take backlinks into account but also the anchor text, which is the hyperlinked text. With this link: iSmart Blog, the anchor text is 'iSmart Blog'. This link now influences the search engines in the ranking of the blog for 'iSmart Blog'.

It is also important to distinguish nofollow backlinks and dofollow backlinks. Nofollow backlinks are backlinks with a rel="nofollow" tag. This tag is a consensual way of embedding links without you taking editorial responsibility for the landing page quality of the link. Dofollow backlinks are thus much more valuable than nofollow backlinks.

Now you're probably wondering how you can get backlinks. In the early years of the Internet, you'd approach other site owners and politely ask for a link on their site, and in return you'd offer one on your site to theirs. Now you can get backlinks with web directories, article networks, social bookmarking, blogging...

To learn how to build backlinks and search engine marketing to your site, get our SEO eBook (PDF): SEO for iSmart! Contact us at sales@ismartsoftware.com for more information.

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